


Weary Midnight Hours

by AirbornBiohazard



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi Can’t Sleep, Akechi Has A Guilty Conscience, Akira Can’t Sleep, Basically Just A Drabble, Feelings are dumb, Foreshadowing Spoilers, I’m Trying To Start Writing Again, M/M, Morgana Telling Akira To Sleep, References to Depression, Sad Kids Are Sad, Storms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 07:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13336353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AirbornBiohazard/pseuds/AirbornBiohazard
Summary: He looked through the wet glass to see only darkness; it was obvious the cafe wouldn’t be open at this hour. He flicked his gaze upwards and saw the attic window still illuminated.He once again considered looking for another place, or even sleeping in the train station; but something he couldn’t name -although he knew exactly what it was- compelled him to take the risk.





	1. Chapter 1

Akira glared at the meowing black mass that was sitting on his bed before tossing his jacket over it.  
“Shut up, Morgana.”  
The jacketed mass yowled. “But you need to sleep! Do you realize how late it is?!”  
Akira shrugged. “Don’t care. I’m not tired.”  
The jacket wriggled as the trapped feline tried to fight his way out. “I don’t care if you don’t care! You have exams soon, don’t you?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Then you definitely need sleep! Get in bed!”  
“Stop yelling.” Akira turned his back to the bed and continued playing his game.  
Eventually a white paw found its way out from the jacket, and the rest of Morgana soon followed, his ears set back. “What’s the heck’s gotten into you?”  
Akira sighed, his eyes tracing the miniature rivers left by raindrops on the window. “I dunno. I just don’t feel like I could sleep right now.”  
Morgana dropped from the bed and slunk over to the chair Akira was occupying. He lept deftly into the boy’s lap and pawed at the controller in his hands.  
“This is probably why you can’t sleep,” he meowed.  
Akira shook his head. “I don’t think so, but if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll read a book instead.”  
Pleased with the slight cooperation, Morgana purred as he left Akira’s lap and made his way back to his spot on the bed.  
Akira turned off the tv and picked a random book out from his bag.  
The rain outside his window got stronger and louder by the minute.  
It was going to be a long night.  
***  
The drizzle was intensifying.  
Goro Akechi wandered the dark, wet streets of Yongen; his brain was quiet enough that he could keep himself from thinking about anything in particular, but there were too many things buzzing under the surface of his mind for him to find solace in the rain.  
He looked up at the buildings that surrounded him, the little neighborhood and the shops seeming abandoned and lonely in the dark. He really didn’t remember why he was there. He was certain it had been something of importance, but the constant weariness that been haunting him always made his memory foggy late at night.  
In reality, he could think of more reasons to avoid Yongen than to visit it.  
He mindlessly wandered the streets, hoping something would remind him of his motives. But everything seemed grey under the sheets of water that were coming down faster. He knew he should leave, go home before he got himself sick. But there was a block in his mind, a haze of apathy regarding his current predicament. He simply sighed and continued his journey towards nowhere.  
The pellets of water massaged a soothing rhythm on his back, but ran cold through his hair. He stopped and leaned against the wall he’d been passing, closing his eyes and listening to the raindrops sing their gentle yet rebellious song against every surface in the area.  
He was unaware how long he stood there, while the storm gradually grew to a conundrum of rain and rushing water.  
A clap of thunder made Goro open his eyes with a start, and he fumbled to check the time.  
He internally cursed himself for missing the last train hours ago, and shivered as he realized that he was drenched and technically lost.  
_I have to find somewhere to get out of the rain…_ it was the first concrete thought he’d had that night. A glance up at the nearest building made his heart drop into his stomach.  
The only place in Yongen that he wanted desperately to avoid was probably his best hope at finding at least temporary shelter from the weather.  
He sighed again and crossed the empty alley to the shadowy facade of Leblanc.  
He stood under the awning for a while, just relieved to be out of the worsening downpour.  
He looked through the glass to see only darkness; it was obvious the cafe wouldn’t be open at this hour. He flicked his gaze upwards and saw the attic window still illuminated.  
He once again considered looking for another place, or even sleeping in the train station; but something he couldn’t name -although he knew exactly what it was- compelled him to take the risk.  
He steeled himself and brought his fist to the glass door, rapping curtly and half-hoping he wouldn’t get an answer.  
After a minute or two he thought to give up, but another roll of thunder pushed him to knock again, louder and a bit more desperate than before.  
This time, there was a flicker of movement in the window.  
***  
The first knock had seemed to be a figment of Akira’s sleep-deprived imagination.  
He looked up from the pages of his novel, listening intently through the storm.  
“..Morgana? Did you hear something?” he whispered, but the black cat who was curled up beside him was fast asleep, and did not reply.  
After a few moments, Akira shook his head to himself. _Maybe I really am tired,_ he thought.  
He decided that hallucinated noises were reason enough to force himself to sleep. He had just closed the book when another clap of thunder came, accompanied by a louder, more distinct knock.  
_Holy shit, there’s actually somebody out there..._ He tried to maneuver himself around Morgana, but the shifting weight caused the cat to stir. His tail flicked back and forth as he growled softly, “Why the heck are you still awake..?”  
“There’s someone knocking on the door downstairs,” Akira answered, setting his book down and heading towards the source of the noise.  
“At this time? Akira, it’s two in the morning,” Morgana yawned as he stretched, quickly jumping down to follow. “Anyone out there has to have lost their mind.”  
“Well, I’m not just going to let them stay out in that storm,” Akira replied. Once he got down the stairs, he squinted at the rain-soaked figure outside. _Who the hell?_  
He quickly darted across the room, switching on the lights before unlocking the door.  
Akira felt his mouth hang open when a miserable-looking Goro Akechi all but fell into the cafe.  
“A-Akechi-kun? What are you doing-”  
Akira had to practically catch Akechi to keep him on his feet. He quickly regained his balance, however, and laughed nervously.  
“I just… felt like stopping by?” He accompanied the unsure answer with his signature dazzling smile; and although he looked completely disheveled with his rain-slicked hair, dark circles, and now fairly-useless jacket, Akira nearly felt his knees buckle under the radiance of that smile. _Every damn time…_  
He quickly pulled out a chair at the bar. “Sit; take off your jacket,” he motioned to the seat. “I’ll get you a blanket and a drink.”  
***  
Akechi barely registered what happened after the door opened.  
After Kurusu offered him a blanket and coffee, he tried to object, but for some reason couldn’t remember the words for refusal.  
He consigned and shrugged off his jacket, sitting in his usual seat and glancing around, suddenly exhausted. Kurusu’s cat soon jumped into the seat next to him, staring intently, as if it was searching his face for some sort of motive or explanation. But, of course, it wasn’t. It was just a cat, after all. It was probably just wondering who its owner would cause such a fuss over.  
“Hello, Kitty-chan,” he murmured, scratching the cat’s ears. “I probably woke you both up… I’m sorry.”  
When Kurusu returned, he draped a heavy blanket around Goro’s shoulders and quickly stepped behind the counter, preparing a cup.  
Goro felt himself instinctively tighten the blanket around himself, coveting the warmth - and the very subtle scent of Akira’s cologne.  
As he peeped his eyes from the protective cocoon to watch Kurusu expertly make the life-giving drink, the pit in his stomach deepened; eventually he could no longer stand it and opted instead to rest his forehead on the counter.  
_I shouldn’t be here… I shouldn’t be anywhere near him… I have a job to do, and I can’t have any attachments! Not like this… I’ll ruin myself…_  
He continued to fester in his thoughts until a gentle tap on the counter roused his attention.  
He looked up, and gratefully accepted the cup that had been placed before him.  
“That should warm you up.”  
The coffee was hot and just the right flavor, the smallest bit sweeter than normal. It definitely was similar to Sojiro’s, but there was something about it that was distinctly Kurusu, and that made it, in some way, better. Goro reveled in it, letting the warm breaths of steam caress his face.  
Kurusu stood behind the bar with his arms crossed for a while before continuing,  
“So, why _are_ you here so late? Especially in this weather.”  
Goro sat his cup down, thinking. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again.  
“..Did something happen?”  
Goro remained silent for a moment longer, his lethargic mind unable to piece together his thoughts. _Don’t say the wrong thing… don’t say the wrong thing…_  
“I.. ah.. I missed the last train..?”  
Goro internally sighed. _Wow. Genius._  
Kurusu’s concerned gaze burned holes into him. “The last train left more than five hours ago. Have you been outside this whole time?”  
Goro simply nodded.  
“Are you crazy?! You’ll get pneumonia…”  
Goro shrugged off the concern.  
“I’ll.. be fine. I really don’t know why I’m here. I just kind of ended up in Yongen without remembering why… so I wandered around in the rain for a while. I guess I lost track of time.”  
Kurusu obviously didn’t buy it. “There must be more to it than that. You can’t possibly have lost track of time for five hours in the middle of a thunderstorm.” He pushed his glasses up and rested his elbows in the bar.  
Goro stared at the bottom of his coffee cup.  
_You really don’t have to say anything to him… in fact, it would be much better if you didn’t._  
But Kurusu’s patient, grey eyes and tilted head always made Goro comfortable saying anything. Almost anything.  
“I’m not entirely sure what’s been happening to me lately, but I’ve been wandering around instead of sleeping, and when I do I don’t really think of anything; I just aimlessly… wander. I knew I should’ve gone home when the rain kicked up, but something inside me kept me out there, looking at all the greyness… I suppose I was thinking, but I didn’t want to think about it.. and I guess I didn’t really care what happened to me.”  
Kurusu nodded as if he understood.  
_…You know it doesn’t matter how much you tell him or how much you think he likes you; he’ll still hate you in the end. You’ll be nothing but a traitor to him._  
_He’ll despise you, and you’ll deserve every bit of it._  
Goro sighed and looked away from his barista.  
Kurusu’s voice came quietly after a few minutes.  
“..Goro?”  
He looked up, trying to make the tears unconsciously welling up in his eyes not seem as obvious. “Yes..?”  
“You can trust me.”  
That simple phrase single-handedly shattered Goro’s heart.  
Don’t…  
“...Y-you don’t understand… I want to. But I can’t… It’s all this great big cosmic scheme and I could never be free of it…”  
_God damn it, what are you doing?_  
“I want so very much to confide in you, Kurusu-kun, I do…”  
_Stop talking! Why aren’t I stopping?! This is insane! You aren’t even making any sense!_  
“But you wouldn’t understand, and I don’t ever want to hurt you-” _more than I’m already going to…_ he had clapped his hands over his mouth by that point, silent tears trailing down his face wholly without his consent.  
_Why..? Why is this happening? Where is my damn composure? I can’t even look him in the eyes without spilling everything to him; I shouldn’t be here; everything I’ve worked for is in jeopardy…_  
Kurusu simply sat, listening to the rambling with his hands folded on the countertop; but when Goro actually began to cry, he got up and walked around the bar.  
_He’s probably figured it out by now; he’ll kick me back outside for sure… he knows what I’m planning, I know he knows; he hates me…_  
Goro braced himself for anything; confusion, apathy, realization, even anger or hatred; anything other than what happened.  
***  
Akira couldn’t stand it anymore.  
He’d always had an infuriating soft spot for the charming detective, even though he was well aware of the danger that would come from getting too close. He knew that there was some kind of reason Akechi ever-so-slightly pushed it. He knew there was a reason that after their fateful meeting, Akechi had magically discovered Leblanc and soon became a regular; there was a reason that he always seemed to show up with a dazzling smile and a polite word; there was a reason Akechi told him things someone would never tell to a stranger or even an acquaintance; there was a reason he showed Akira a side of himself that no one else ever got to see, the quieter, sadder, more vulnerable boy who was never on tv; there was a reason Akechi was making him fall head-over-heels and he knew it had to be a trap but _damn_ was it working.  
So as he watched the ace detective crumble to pieces before him, he decided that he couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t pretend to ignore him like he did when he saw him on every news station in Tokyo; he couldn’t get by with a quick trade of pleasantries like he sometimes could when Akechi came into Leblanc; he couldn’t just listen attentively and empathetically as Goro lamented his pain like he did other times.  
The person who was both his bane and his muse was falling apart in front of him, shivering and crying in the middle of the night.  
Overcoming every single clear-minded fibre of his being, he walked around the bar and moved behind Akechi, taking a deep breath before wrapping his arms comfortingly around the brunette.  
Akechi tensed at the contact, but before Akira could let go, he relaxed and sank back into the embrace. After a moment, Akira rested his chin on Akechi’s shoulder. The ends of his long light-brown hair had begun to dry, and they brushed softly against Akira’s cheek.  
They stayed like that for a while, until Akira felt shifting movement beneath him. He loosened the hug, expecting Akechi to make an escape of some kind. Instead, the boy merely turned himself around to face his host, before hugging him back tightly.  
Akira ran his fingers through the damp hair of the head that was now buried in his chest.  
He didn’t say anything. He didn’t think there was anything he could say.  
He just stared at the clock on the wall behind the counter, watching the hands spin around in their endlessly eternal dance.  
Once the time read four-thirty, Akira gently detached Akechi’s arms from himself. When he was met with a tiny sound of resistance, he whispered, “I have to go put your cup away. I’ll be back.”  
He reached over and took the cup, quietly taking it back to the sink.  
When he returned, he found that his guest had turned back to the counter, laying his head on his arms with the blanket securely encasing him.  
Akira chuckled quietly to himself when he heard the faintest, most delicate murmurs of sleep.  
He made his way to one of the booths, flicking off the lights before sitting down beside Morgana, who had curled up on a table and was purring softly.  
He absentmindedly stroked the sleeping cat, murmuring, “I guess you finally gave up on making me sleep…”  
He remained like that, watching over his two dreaming companions until sunlight filtered its way through the glass panes of the door.  
***


	2. Epilogue(?)

***  
Akira opened his eyes to the faint chime of the cafe door opening. He lifted his head up from the table, wondering when he’d fallen asleep.  
He blinked through the onslaught of sunlight at the person who was standing before him.  
“G-Goro..?” He mumbled, the night before hanging heavy in his mind.  
“Kid? You fall asleep down here..? Why was the door unlocked? Everything okay?”  
As his vision focused, Akira found himself staring up at Sojiro.  
He tried to shake his head to chase the sleepiness away. “Sojiro..? I, uh… everything’s okay, yeah,” he stretched, yawning. “What time is it?”  
“It’s time for the shop to be opened, and for you to be in school.”  
_Shit._  
“I come a little late to open up and I find the door unlocked, with you snoozing in a booth,” Sojiro made his way over to the bar, a quizzical look on his face. He lifted something off the counter and inspected it. Akira realized it was cash. “It also looks like someone paid you for a coffee.” He crossed his arms in front of Akira, his gaze not scolding, but mildly interested and just a bit concerned.  
“Care to explain, sleepyhead?”  
***  
Akira later found a note on the table where he’d been sleeping, tucked neatly under Morgana’s paws.  
“Morgana, wake up. You’ve been asleep all day.” He nudged the paper out from under the drowsy cat. Written on it, in neat, precise handwriting, was-

_I’m extremely sorry about intruding last night._  
_Thank you for your hospitality and kindness, though;_  
 _because of you I was able to sleep for the first time this week._  
 _I hope you’ll forgive me for leaving like this,_  
 _but you seem peaceful and I don’t wish to wake you.  
                  A.G._

**Author's Note:**

> ...Well, there ya go.  
>  This is my first work in a while, and my first for P5.  
> I’m trying to get myself back into the swing of writing, and this beautiful game was just the excuse I needed.


End file.
